Somewhere Nearby
by Rainy Dreamer
Summary: Completely A/U one-shot. A med student meets another young woman by chance one evening in an unlikely place.


**Somewhere Nearby**

_A one-shot that has stuck with me for a long time now.  
Enjoy._

* * *

Arizona smiled as she folded another piece of laundry into a neat square before placing it on top of the other layers in her basket. She leaned on the sturdy machine, oddly comforted by the whirling sounds that buzzed throughout the small building, almost pushing all room for thought out of her mind.

It had been a long day for the young woman, whose days now consisted of hours upon hours with her head buried within a textbook, basic sustenance, and very little time for her own family and friends. The work was hard, but she loved it. Medicine had been her desired career choice for as long as her brain could conceive. She was drained by her studies, but in a way that left her thirsting for more the next morning. If she had been a dancer, her aching muscles would have been her motivation to dance again the next day.

And the solitude was not as bad as she had perceived would be upon her exchange to Washington. She had never minded the quiet...  
It was the silence that always haunted her.

Staring ahead absentmindedly, Arizona noticed how the outside rain splattered against the laundrette's wide front window, marring her view of the world on the other side.

She watched as bright lights from the main road flashed against the two glass panes, catching the speckles and paths of raindrops in mid-trickle in a way that dazzled her momentarily.

A sharp click pulled the blonde out of her reverie with a start. Her blue eyes snapped to the side quickly enough to catch the sight of a tall brunette pushing the door to the laundrette open with haste, her clothing visibly soaked from the downpour that she had just escaped.

Arizona watched the other woman push the door shut behind her with another click, before making her way towards an empty washer. Arizona rested her chin in her palm, studying the woman from afar. The brunette seemed to feel eyes upon her and she looked up at Arizona quizzically from the other side of the room as she pulled articles of clothing from her laundry bag and placed them into the large bowl methodically.

Their eyes remained locked for a long moment until Arizona averted her eyes, a pink flush climbing upon her cheeks.

Looking back momentarily, she watched as the other woman, whose attention was now fixed back upon the machine in front of her, combed loose curls behind her ear with the tips of her fingers. It was a self-conscious movement that made the corners of the blonde's mouth twitch for a reason she could not describe. She followed the trail of the woman's movements and noticed the goosebumps peppering the bare skin of her rich, tan arms like a mosaic made from illuminated sand.

* * *

"Can I help you?"

Arizona's eyes snapped up for the second time as the sound of the tall woman's amused voice met her ears. She looked up to find wide brown eyes on her, although filled with jest rather than any emotion of hostile nature.

Nonetheless, the blonde's blush deepened at the realisation that she had been caught staring once again.

She cleared her throat stood up straight, stepping away from the humming machine next to her.

"I am sorry, I just keep thinking that you must be frozen dressed like that" she used one hand to motion towards the dripping navy jersey and low-cut shorts that the other woman was adorning, "when the weather is like this." she used the other hand to point towards the laundrette window, whose body was being barraged with anarchic, watery bullets courtesy of the rainstorm that was currently and mercilessly targeting Seattle.

The brunette blinked and then smiled after a moment.

She turned to press a button on the washer behind her and then walked towards where the blonde was standing with her arms crossed and pressed tightly against her torso.

"You're right. I_ am_freezing!" she chuckled before adding, "I suppose that this is my comeuppance for risking shorts for a five minute trip out in the middle of December in Seattle, right?" she laughed again, and the blonde laughed, albeit nervously, along with her, murmuring shyly and almost imperceptibly in agreement.

The two women stood next to one another in matching positions, quietly but not uncomfortably. They listened to the whirling together, just as they watched the lights in the windows flicker with wide eyes.

"I'm Callie, by the way."

Arizona's eyebrows raised and she tore her eyes from the display in front of her and watched the other woman push herself onto a sitting position upon the washer using the weight of both of her arms. Her blue eyes glanced at the soft skin of Callie's neck and chest as she pushed them outwards in the process of her movement.

"And I'm Arizona. Nice to meet you, Callie." the blonde stretched her hand out towards the woman above her and the brunette took it in her own and shook it obligingly.

Callie smiled widely.

Arizona swallowed thickly.

And then Callie released her hand, turned back to the window, and the moment could have never existed.

"You're scared to go back out in that weather aren't you?"  
the blonde queried with narrowed eyes.

Callie turned and grinned conspiratorially,  
"I am excellent company for someone who is doing the exact same thing, is what I'd prefer to describe myself as..."

Arizona leaned back and laughed a laugh that sounded unfamiliar to her own ears, before fixing her features in a mock expression of faux hurt and presenting it to the amused brunette.

Callie smirk grew at Arizona's playful display of offence,

"What, it's true! We're both going to be sat here until that hell on Earth," she pointed towards the door much in the same manner that Arizona had done not long before, "has officially ran its course."

"I know it, you know it."

Mindful of Callie's penetrative gaze, the smaller woman ducked her eyes behind golden tresses of hair, before shaking her head.

"I might have been talking about the company."

Callie twiddled her fingers.

"I don't think you were."

* * *

The brunette furrowed her brows and turned her head at the sound of movement beside her. Looking up to meet the confused eyes of the beautiful stranger that she had spent the last two glorious hours speaking with, Arizona carried on feeling along the insides of her backpack until her fingers came across the material that she had been searching for.

"Aha!" she cried, pulling the large zip-up hoody from her pack, unfolding it and checking it for stains.

The confusion melted from the taller woman's face, replaced by a soft smile.

"For me?" she pointed to her self.

The blonde nodded, her cheeks burning.

"For you, you know, if you _ever_ decide to leave this place we now call home._"_

Callie snorted and punched the blonde in the shoulder softly,

"Gee, thanks Mom..."

"Just put it on."

"I don't even know you! You can't boss me around like this."

"Oh... well, I can take it back if you want." Arizona started to pack the hoody away, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

"Oh no you don't!"

Callie yanked the hoody from the pale hands and pulled it over her head as quickly as possible. She pulled the sleeves over her hands, an image that reminded Arizona of her brother wearing their father's hide coat when playing out at Christmas when they had been children. The taller woman smiled sheepishly at her blonde companion, muttering an earnest thank you.

"As long as you bring it – isn't that stunning!", she interrupted herself unselfconsciously at the sight of the snowflakes that had begun to land gently upon the window and streets outside of the shop. She had always been excited by snow. Her family had always mocked her child-like qualities, but she could not bring herself to feel embarrassed around the brunette.

Callie watched the blonde's face give way to awe, and tried to keep the expression off of her own face.

"As though I needed another excuse to use this launderette more often..."

Arizona turned her face back to the brunette. Her blue eyes were wide and her beaming smile had faded only slightly.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

Callie just shook her head, before jumping down from her place on top of the machine that had stopped buzzing and warming her legs long ago.  
Arizona gaped at the brunette before recovering quickly,

"Wait! Are you going?"

Callie twisted her body to face Arizona whilst she pulled up the zipper of her borrowed hoody to cover as much skin as the material could reach.  
Arizona noticed the flushed colouring beneath the remaining exposed expanse of Callie's bronzed skin, and could not help but feel both flustered and irrationally so.

Callie simply flipped the hood above her head and simply grinned.

"Godspeed, right?"

Arizona stifled a giggle at the adorable idiocy of the brunette's actions.

"Wait," Arizona turned, searching for her phone in her bag, "Let me give you my-"

the blonde turned in her place, surprise colouring her face and voice.

"Number..."


End file.
